Grain-door for freight-cars.



No. 893,001.-, PATENTED JULY 14, 1908. T. J. MAVOLAUGHLIN.

GRAIN 110011 FOR FRBIGHT'OARS.

APPLICATION run'n MAR. 16. 1907.

THOMAS JOSEPH MACLAUGHLIN, OF OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA.

GRAIN-DOOR FOR FREIGHT-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 14, 1908.

Application filed March 15, 1907. Serial No. 362,568.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS JOSEPH MAC- LAUGHLIN, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, residing at Ottawa, in the county of Carleton and Province of Ontario, Canada, civil servant, having invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain-Doors for Freight-Cars, do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and-exact description of the same.

My invention relates to improvements in grain-doors and the objects of my improvements are to provide mexpensive and safe means of preventing the leakage of grain and such commodities from cars in transit, to facilitate loading and unloading and to obviate the necessity of nailing doors, or the lumber used as temporary doors, to the doorposts and thus prevent damage to doors, lumer and cars. I attain these objects by the mechanism and in the manner illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is an outside view of the door closed; Fig. 2 is the same from the inside of the car; Figs. 3, 4., and 7 are horizontal sections (Fig- 3 at xw) Fig. 5 is a vertical section and Fig. 6 is a cross-section of a car showing the door swung up and fastened to the ceilmg.

Similar letters refer to 7 similar parts throughout the several views.

The door may be in one or more sections, preferably in two, and the sections may be hinged to each other or left separate. The principal object is to readily open the door from the outside of the car without any of the difliculties now attending that operation.

To attain the objects in view, the supplementary door-post A, of soft wood, about 1% thick, is securely screwed to thepermanent door-post A, and extends to the highest grain-level of the car, as shown in the several gures. Cleat B, against which one end of the door rests, is temporarily nailed to A, and the other end of the door rests against the inside of the opposite door-post. To prevent the door from movin to the right or left of the opening, cleats C, are placed against each end of the door and fastened to the inside of the door-posts. These to other with cleat B, form a recess into whic the door closely fits. To hold the door tightly in place until the grain comes against it, nails G, are driven into the soft wood diagonally, close to and the heads bent down tightly against the ends of the door, one near the bottom and one near the top at each end of the door, see Fig. 4.

In opening the door, cleat B is pried off by inserting the point of a bar or any pointed instrument, between A and B, at the oint V, where 'a slot or notch is made on t e inner edge of cleat B, to facilitate the operation. As soon as cleat B, is ried off the door is forced open by the weight of grain, as shown by dotted lines Figs. 3, 4, and 7. If the bottom of the door should stick against the door plate F, the door can easily be pried up and over the plate by placing the point of a pinch bar under the end of one of the battens E, and this should be done before prying B off.

The object of the supplementary, soft wooden post A, is that the nails which hold the cleat B, to it may be easily withdrawn in prying off cleat B.

' The door is made reversible so that any set spring which it may sustain through pressure may be taken out by putting it on the other way. For this reason and in order that a batten may always be on the outside by which the door may be pried up and over the door plate without injury to the door, two

battens are placed on one side and one on the the insertion of a bar underneath it.

Where the door plate F, is narrow enou h to allow of the door bein brought within t e wall space, so that it wil not project beyond the inside wall-line, the arrangement shown by Fig. 4 may be adopted, in which the suplementary post A, and cleat B, are used on both of the door-posts A, thus doing away with the necessity of stops C C, in such cases.

'The door may be securely attached to the car, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6. The iron bar or rod H, is fastened to the beam over the door-opening, at point I, in such a way as to swin outwardly and inwardly, and is fastene to the door by means of the iron ring J. This ring is bolted to the upper edge of the door, through the center batten, and is large enough to allow the rod H, to run readily through it, but too small to admit of the passage of the ring K, on the lower end of the rod H. The door isthus secured to the rod H, and can only be removed from the car by unscrewing the rod from the beam at point I, or by taking ring J, from the door. In han ing the door u when not in use, the rod passes throug the ring J, as the door is door reaches the beam over the door-opening,

the ring K,- at the end of rod H, will project beyond or below the lower side or edge of the door; the rod is then lifted to and hung on the iron hook L, at the ceiling, the door resting on rod H, as shown in Fig. 6. This arrangement does not interfere with the free action of the door in any direction, and the door cannot be injured or knocked off the hook by any jolting or shunting of the car.

Separate boards may be used as shown by Fig. 7; one end of each being lightly nailed to cleat B, and the other to the supplementary post A, on the opposite door-post. In this case only one of the stops C, will be required and cleat B. may-be sacrificed at each unloading, but the entire door will be saved from injury and opened as readily as if in one iece. What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a car door structure, the combination with the door-way, and beam at the top thereof, of a door, a ring thereon, a rod pivoted at substantially the center of the beam, and extending through the ring and means on the car roof for locking the extremity of the rod thereto.

2. In a car door structure, the combination with the car having a door way therein and permanent door posts at the side thereof, of a supplemental door post of relatively soft material secured thereto, a door slightly greater in width than the opening between the supplemental post and the opposite permanent post, and adapted to extend on the inside of one permanent door post and to abut the op osite supplemental door 30st, a

longitudinal 'y extending cleat remova ly secured on the exterior of the supplemental door post and inside cleats adapted to hold 1 door slightly greater in width than the open- 111g between the posts adapted to extend on the inside of one post and to abut the opposite post, a longitudinally extending cleat removably secured on the exterior o'l one post and inside cleats adapted to hold the door from lateral movement.

4. In a car door structure, the combination with the door-way, of a door for the same, cleats for holding the door in position and a rod )ivoted to the top of the door-way and slidab y connected to the door at sub stantially the center thereof.

5. In a car door structure, the combination with the door-way, and the door for the same, of cleats for holding the door in position, a rod pivoted to the top of the door-way having a ring formed on the extremity thereof, a ring secured centrally to the door through which the rod extends, and a hook on the car roof adapted to engage said ring.

6. In a car door structure, the combination with the car having an opening therein, and permanent posts at the side thereof, of a supp emental door post, of relatively soft material removably secured to the permanent post, a door adapted. to extend across the opening and a cleat adapted to be nailed to the supplemental door post.

THOMAS JOSEPH illi-xolnlUGlllilN Ottawa, 15th February, 1.907.

Signed in the presence of J. B. LAMB, D. A. HEWITT. 

